Daughter of Flame
by ReadrOfBooks
Summary: Daphnê, daughter of Percy and Annabeth, is happily living life oblivious to the fact that she is a demigod. But what happens when she and her sibs find out that the Greek gods are real? Love, lust, quests, and a whole lotta drama! Apollo/OC, 2 OC/OC. ABANDONED
1. Chapter 1

**Well, this is my first actual story...the other was a one-shot. Yay! I was inspired to write this by Xed Alpha's Broken Bow series: I found the whole concieved-from-essence thing a really good idea, but there are just too many child-of-Artemis fics out there, ya know? So I decided to make my protagonist a daughter of...WTF you'll find out. Please R&R-there is an important A/N regarding reviews at the bottom.**

**Here goes nuthin...**

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Hestia is standing next to the burnt laurel tree, crying quietly.

_"I never knew that this would happen, that leaving some of my essence in the fire would cause this. I'm supposed to help, not harm!" she says. Then she notices a small bundle lying on the ground. Hestia picks it up and looks inside. She sees a small baby who is crying quietly._

_"I name you Daphnê, after the tree you were created under. But I cannot take care of you, so who will?" she says. Then her mind clears. "Percy and Annabeth. I can ask them to take care of my daughter." The couple was living in California now, near Annabeth's parents. Rumor said that they had decided to raise their children as normal people, not demigods._

_A few minutes later, Hestia was at Percy and Annabeth's house. Percy opens the door._

_"Hestia? What are you doing here?" he says._

_"Can you and Annabeth take care of her?" she says, holding Daphnê out. "I understand that you're busy with the twins and all..." Percy lifts up Daphnê and cradles her in his arms. "Hey Wise Girl, come over here for a second," he says. Annabeth walks over to where Percy and Hestia are standing. She sees Daphnê and places her hand over her mouth._

_"Hestia needs us to take care of her," Percy says. Annabeth begins crying silently. "Did you know, Hestia?"_

_"Know what?" Hestia asks._

_"That I just had a miscarriage," Annabeth whispers. Percy puts his free arm around Annabeth. Hestia is staring at them in shock for a few seconds, but recovered quickly._

_"Then take Daphne, and raise her as your own," she said. Before Percy and Annabeth could say anything, she added, "and you will forget my identity, knowing nothing but her name and that she is a half-blood." Hestia waved her hand, and Percy and Annabeth's faces went blank. She turned and started walking away. When she was halfway down the driveway, she turned around._

_"Stay safe, my daughter," whispered Hestia, goddess of the home and hearth._

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~Thirteen Years and Seven Months Later, Daphnê's POV~

I woke up to the sweet, sweet, sound of my siblings fighting over something. "Luke! Give me the damn TV. remote!" Theodora, known as Theo to all who wish to keep their sanity, said.

"I don't want to watch Glee! It's retarded!" That was the aforementioned Luke, Theo's twin brother.

"Oh, like Food Network is better?" And so the Saturday morning battle for the TV remote begins. What a great start to summer break.

"It's too early to be fighting!" my dad said. Would you believe me if I told you that this is essentially a script by now? Besides, it's nine o'clock in the morning, which is positively mid-afternoon if you're on school time like me.

"Percy, it's not early at all. Besides, Theo and Luke fight no matter what time it is," my mom said. Ah, the wonders of a semi-dysfunctional family.

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I finished getting dressed and started to head downstairs. As I walked out of my bedroom, I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror. Ugh. Well, I'm not, like super ugly or anything like that, I just look nothing like the rest of the family. Dad has black hair and sea-green eyes. Mom has curly blond hair and gray eyes. Theo has black hair and gray eyes, and Luke has blond hair and sea-green eyes. On the topic of family resemblance... What do I look like, you ask? Well, to start, my skin is a shade paler than theirs. I have hair the color of flames. No, seriously, it's Little-Mermaid red with orange and gold highlights. You would not believe how out of place I look in family pictures. Oh, don't worry, my plight gets worse: I have brown eyes.

Okay, that came out wrong. What I'm trying to get at there is that I'm the only one in the whole family with brown eyes. Sometimes random people go up to me and ask how old I am because I look like a nine-year-old with a figure but apparently my eyes look 'wise'. What the hell is that supposed to mean anyways?  
And as if that wasn't bad enough, I'm fourteen years old (turning fifteen in a couple of months) and exactly 5'0"! I'm one of the shortest people in the school. But, on the upside, I have two things in common with the rest of the family: all five of us are ADHD and dyslexic. As if my grades weren't bad enough...

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"Morning, Daphnê," Mom said. Dad grunted something-he's not completely awake until he's had coffee. Theo and Luke were still fighting over the TV. remote. I sat down and poured myself a bowl of Froot Loops.

"Should we tell them?" Mom said.

"Wise Girl, we should've told them years ago," Dad said. Mom nodded.

"Theo, Luke, stop fighting over the TV. and come over here," Dad said. To Mom, he added, "Should you start or should I?"

"I'll start—the beginning's always easier than the end," Mom said. Theo and Luke sat down next to me—one on each side.

"Before we start, your mother and I want to remind you—all three of you—that we love you very much," Dad said. Luke, Theo and I exchanged glances. Crap. This is not going to be good. Because, you know, nothing good ever starts out like that. Nothing.

"All three of you know your Greek mythology—we made sure of that," Mom said. It wasn't a question, but the three of us nodded anyways.

"Well, the Greek gods are real. And so are their children. I'm a daughter of Athena and Seaweed Brain over there is a son of Poseidon," Mom said. Okay…that's not weird. Luke shrugged. Theo raised an eyebrow, like she was thinking, Okay, I know my parents are weird but not that weird. Me? Oh, I simply stared in disbelief.

"Theo—you take after your dad. You have his powers over water. Luke takes after me. He has a brain, unlike some people in this family." Dad raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything.

"What about me? Who do I take after?" I asked. I think I know the answer… Dad spoke this time. "About a year after the twins were born, their mother had a miscarriage. Both of us were saddened beyond belief. Theo and Luke, you were sensing that, somehow. Your health was failing.

"Then, one evening in November, Daphnê's mother appeared at our door. She told us that she needed someone to take care of her, because she couldn't. We readily agreed. She's been ours since that day." Luke and Theo put their arms around me. I started crying silently. It's hard finding out that your parents aren't really your parents, that your siblings aren't really your siblings. The whole Greek gods thing was easier to accept than that.

"Who was she?" I asked. "Who was my mother?"

"We don't know…she erased our memories of her identity. But think about it—you might be able to figure it out," Mom said—yes, I'll still call them Mom and Dad. That much hasn't—and won't—change. She was crying, too.  
Let's see…I don't like leaving home at all. It's the worst thing in the world for me. I seem to have an affinity of sorts for fire. I don't get cold easily, but when I do, I get really, really cold. Like frostbite cold. Usually it happens when we leave home to visit Disneyland or something like that, not so much when we visit Aunt Juniper and Uncle Grover, Aunt Katie and Uncle Travis, or Grandma Sally and Grandpa Paul. Umm...I look young and old for my age. Yep, cant forget about my stalkers.

"You're right, I do know," I said. Hestia. My mother is Hestia, goddess of the home and hearth.

"Then we'll head to Camp Half-Blood tomorrow," Dad said. "It's a training camp for demigods, and where your mom and I met." They looked at each other, remembering other time and places.

"Do I have to go?" Luke said. "Because, you know, it just seems so-"

"Angelique will be there," Mom said. She had stopped crying. But anyways, Angelique 'Kiki' Stoll is the daughter of Aunt Katie and Uncle Travis, who happen to be Luke's godparents. Luke has had a crush on Kiki since they were…I think three years old, maybe younger.

"Why can't we leave today?" Luke said. See what I mean?

"Because we have gods, people, and a centaur to notify, packing to do, and we need to make sure that Zeus doesn't blast us out of the sky," Dad said. This should be interesting…

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That night, I had a dream. I'm pretty sure it was my first demigod dream. But anyways, Hestia was standing in front of me.

"Hello, milady," I said. What? It's not like I have anything better to call her. She frowned, ruining her looks for the moment. "Don't call me milady—I am your mother, after all."

"Well, what else am I supposed to call you?" I asked. "Not Mom, because that's Annabeth. Not Hestia, because you are my mother, after all. So milady it is." Mimicking Hestia felt good, in a way, but in another, it didn't. It's hard to explain, like part of me is saying take that, while the somewhat prissy side of me (Don't worry, I deny its existence.) says that's not right, you shouldn't do that, she's your mother. Then a totally random thought occurred to me.

"Wait, aren't you a maiden goddess?" I asked. Because, you know, it would be weird if I was born Athena-style of whatever.

"Crap. This is sooo not what I wanted to talk about," Hestia muttered. I'm pretty sure that I wasn't supposed to hear that.

"Yes. You were born from my essence and that of a mortal man's," she said, almost too patiently. Well, no duh. I said as much aloud.

"Well, if you must know, then, fourteen years ago, I met a man. He had spent the last three weeks at a campsite under a laurel tree. He had a kept a campfire going for those nights.

"At the start of the fourth month, I visited him. He didn't seem at all bothered by the fact that an eight-year old girl had randomly shown up at his campfire. We talked for a while, and as a parting gift, I left some of my essence in the fire."

"That night, a forest fire ravaged the forest, completely destroying the camp. There was no way for your father to have survived. When I visited the site, there was a small bundle under the laurel tree—you. That's how you got your name, by the way—Laurel is Daphnê in Greek.

"Because it would be impossible for me to raise you on my own, I took you to Percy and Annabeth's house. I'm fairly certain that you can guess the rest." She was right; I could guess. Mom and Dad had raised me as their own for the next fourteen, almost fifteen, years. Then I found out about my lineage, and here I am.

"Sooooo…what now?" I asked. Hestia sighed. "Now it's time for you to wake up. See you at Camp Half-Blood." As I started waking up, I heard her say, "Being a mother is going to be harder than I thought." Poor thing has no idea…

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**If you decide to review...please be anonymous if you're gonna flame cuz then i cant pm u w/ a hate message...yes, i may do that. Oh, and if you review i will review one of your stories that are in a fandom that i know well. (PJO, Hunger Games, Harry Potter, maybe Max Ride depending on whether ive read the 2nd book or not by then). Oh and if u need another incentive...if the review is signed i will PM u w/ a sneak peek of Ch. 2 (Theo's first meeting with Apollo).**

**BIBI!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, I've been working soooper hard to get this out to you guys because I'm leaving for Hawai'i on Monday & I probably wont be able to update for 2 weeks after...its called no computer access.**

**Special thanks to AhumanRobot, Annabeth Whitelock Hale, Barbiegirl22, C.C. Nyde, anonymous reviewer (Maddie), for reviewing...especially to Annabeth for having a name that doesnt make my spell check go haywire & AhumanRobot for giving me constructive criticism. Kudos to Barbiegirl22 & Annabeth Whitelock Hale for favoriting me/this story. Sorry if I missed anyone...it wasn't intentional.**

**I forgot to put this in chapter 1...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO...obviously. That goes for the whole story!**

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As the five of us got off the plane (Dad says that we need to thank Zeus for not blasting us out of the sky), I heard people calling our names—Aunt Katie, Uncle Travis, Kiki, Uncle Nico, Aunt Rachel, Uncle Grover, Aunt Juniper, and two other people that I didn't recognize.

"Luke!" Kiki said excitedly. They both blushed, and Kiki covered her mouth with her hands. Luke stepped forward and gave her a quick, albeit awkward, hug. Theo and I simultaneously said, "Awww!" The adults burst out laughing.

"Percy, Annabeth, lovebirds, as much as I'm enjoying the reunion, we need to get to camp," One of the people I didn't recognize said. She was wearing black combat boots, dark blue ripped super-skinny jeans, a black, slightly torn, t-shirt that read Death to Barbie on it, and a silver bomber jacket. A silver circlet was braided into her thick, black hair. She looked about sixteen, and gave off a sorta punk rock impression.

"Thalia!" Mom and Dad said. They ran and hugged her. Oookayyy…Am I the only one not getting this? All the adults looked relaxed, while Kiki, Luke, and Theo looked just as confused as I did. Gee, I wonder why…

"Luke, Theo, Kiki, Daphnê, this is Thalia. She's Artemis' lieutenant, and therefore immortal and doesn't age," Aunt Juniper explained. Ohhh, that makes sense. Or more of it, anyways.

"Wait, so everyone here is related to the crazy Greek stuff in some way?" Theo asked.

"Juniper's a dryad, I'm a satyr, Travis's dad is Hermes, Rachel is the Oracle of Delphi, and Katie's mom is Demeter," Uncle Grover said. Well, what do you know…

"You wouldn't believe how hard it was for me to not tell you!" Kiki said. She knew all along!

"You knew?" Luke asked in disbelief.

"Only since birth! It was kinda funny to see how oblivious you were," Kiki said. Good lord, that girl…I do not get what my brother sees in her.

"We need to get to Camp Half-Blood," the other person I didn't recognize said. She was pretty, what with her long legs, auburn hair, and blue eyes. She looked harmless enough, but there was something about her that spoke of determination, like a do-or-die type attitude. If she was a demigod, I'd say that her godly parent was Nike.

"I agree with Kathleen. We should probably leave soon," Uncle Nico said. He looped an arm around Kathleen. Oooohhhh…

"Nico and Kathleen, sittin' in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Kiki, Luke, Thalia, Theo, and I sang simultaneously. Great minds think alike.

"No, more like Hades' palace," Kathleen said cheerfully. Uncle Nico blushed, and everyone else started laughing. I think I like Kathleen.

"Alright, everybody, let's head outside," Uncle Travis said. According to Mom and Dad, he's really mellowed with age. Anyhow, after we got out luggage from the baggage claim, we were chased out of the airport by water, lightning, zombies, and man-eating plants (courtesy of my relatives). Wow, that sentence was weird.

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When we got outside, there were two cars waiting for us. One was a white van that had Plehid Wabrrrtsy Visere (dyslexia, remember?) on the side, and the other was a cute little sports car.

"About six people can go ride with Argus, and everyone else is going with Apollo," said Aunt Katie.

"I'm going with Argus—there is no way that I'm willingly going within ten feet of Apollo," said Thalia.

"Same here—the weirdest prophecies seem to come out around him," said Aunt Rachel. Okay, I need to work on remembering that all of my relatives are part of this Greek stuff.

"We'll go with Argus, too," Dad said, indicating himself and Mom.

"Same with us—it'll be just like old times," Aunt Juniper said.

"Yep. Fighting monsters, going on quests, almost getting killed on a daily basis," Uncle Grover said wistfully. Honestly? I wasn't sure if I should laugh or what.

"Then everyone else'll go with Apollo," Kathleen said. She opened the door to the sports car, and Apollo stepped out. Theo whistled in admiration. Let's face it: the sun god was hot. I still can't describe him. If you're a girl, just picture your ideal guy (let's hope it's not Justine Beiber or Edward Cullen) and multiply that by ten, and you've got Apollo. If you're a guy, think of a Calvin Klein underwear model times ten. That's an understatement, if anything.

The sun god looked over at Kiki, then noticed how close she and Luke were standing, and moved his gaze to me. Apparently I wasn't hot enough to be of any interest, because Apollo then looked at Theo—and started checking her out. Not a five-second glance like Hey, you might be cute, but a look-over from head to toe. His glance paused at her chest, waist, and legs. Theo, of course, played right along. She lifted her arms above her head, causing her shirt to lift up and show a bit of her toned, tanned belly. She then opened her purse and luxuriously applied a fresh coat of lip gloss. Wow, my older sister is a slut.

Dad and Luke coughed uncomfortably. Translation: we are now in overprotective father/brother mode.

"Sooo...I guess that means that Luke, Daphnê, Theo, Uncle Nico, Kathleen, Mom, Dad, and I are all going with Apollo?" Kiki asked, attempting to break what was quickly turning into an awkward silence. Apollo completely ignored that, and said to Theo, "Hey baby. I'm Apollo, god of the sun—which makes me _hot_." On the topic of cheesy pickup lines…

"And I'm Theo, half-blood with powers over water, which makes me…crap, I can't think of a retort for that,' Theo said. Apollo burst out laughing, and turned to Mom and Dad. "That's your daughter?" he asked.

"Yep—and the blond boy over there is ours, too," Dad said. "His name's Luke." Apollo looked over at Luke for a moment, then turned back to Mom and Dad. "You named your son after—" he started to say, but then Mom cut in. "No, after the Star Wars character, Luke Skywalker. Please don't bring him up in front of the kids—we haven't told them about him yet." The sun god raised his eyebrows but said nothing. Huh. Why do I feel like I'm missing a crucial piece of information here?

"Well, with a group this large, I'm gonna have to trade sports car mode for minibus mode," said Apollo. He took out his car keys and hit the panic button. Instantly, the sports car turned into some sort of bus with at least ten seats. The god turned toward Theo. "Do me a favor and ride shotgun?" he asked. Theo pretended to think about it for a second, and then sighed dramatically. "Fine. But don't expect it to happen again," she said. Apollo grinned. "I have a feeling that that's gonna change quickly," he said.

"Personally, I don't get why I can't sit in the driver's seat," Theo called over her shoulder as the opened the passenger door. Apollo furrowed his brow. "But I need to sit in the driver's seat—you know, to drive," Theo grinned evilly. "Exactly," she said. Luke blushed a really interesting shade of red, and Kiki and I covered our mouths with our hands. Apollo shook his head in amazement and went to his side of the car. Everyone else piled in at the back.

As I was walking towards my seat, I heard Apollo say, "So, Theo does your name stand for anything?"

"Theodora," the girl replied cheerfully. "But only call me that if you want your ass whupped." I told you she didn't like being called Theodora!

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After a few million years, we arrived at Camp Half-Blood. Well, it was probably only an hour or so in reality, but being ADHD has really messed up my sense of time passing. Not to mention the jet lag from coming from California…

Honestly, it was a huge relief to get off the minibus. Apollo had put his hand on Theo's knee about halfway through the drive, and you could practically see the tension in the air.

From what I could see of the place from the outside, Camp Half-Blood looked nice enough. There was a pine tree on a hill. It was covered by a golden fleece. Wait, scratch that. The golden fleece, not a. There is only one, after all. A huge golden dragon was coiled around the tree. It looked semi-friendly—like it was nice to you until you tried to steal the fleece.

Mom and Dad had already arrived. They were standing at the top of the hill, talking to a centaur and a pudgy guy in too-tight sweats. Ew. There were a few other people standing up there talking with the four of them that I didn't recognize. One of them, a boy who looked about my age, was standing off to the side.

"Well, here we are," Apollo said. "Camp Half-Blood. I think I'll stay awhile and say hi to all of my kids." …No comment.

"C'mon Nico, we better go say hi to Chiron," Kathleen said. Chiron must be the centaur…oh, that's right; Dad mentioned something about him living as long as heroes needed him.

The nine of us started walking up the hill to Mom and Dad. Kiki and Luke were holding hands. Finally! They admitted that they liked each other! I can't believe it's taken them…I think twelve years.

"Percy, Annabeth, these are your children" Chiron asked, indicating Theo, Luke, and I. Apollo had his arm around Theo's shoulders.

"Yep. Theo's the one with black hair, Luke's blond, and Daphnê's the redhead," Dad said. Okay, that's just sad that he identified us by our hair color.

"Is Daphnê-" Chiron started to say, but I interrupted. "Yes, I'm adopted. Does it really matter?" My parents looked shocked. "Daphnê! Don't speak to Chiron like that!" Mom said. Whoops. Too late.

"Oh, whatever, as you kids say nowadays." The pudgy dude said. "Lukas, Dorothy, and Tammy are the newest members of the Johnson family. Whoopee." On the topic of rude…and how did he get Dorothy out of Daphnê anyways?

"Dionysus, I think that you're losing your touch," Apollo said. "Tammy sounds nothing like Theo." Yeah, that too…but Dorothy! I mean, come on!

Wait a minute…Dionysus? As in, the Greek god of wine Dionysus?

"Wait, so the pudgy guy is Dionysus?" I said aloud. Shit. Dionysus looked insulted, and everyone else was trying really hard not to laugh.

"No, I'm Aphrodite. And, what, Dorothy Johnson, do you mean by pudgy guy?" The god said. Ummm…

"Mr. D, I think that she meant that you need to wear looser clothing," The boy my age said. He was a head taller than me—as if I didn't feel short enough already. He looked Middle Eastern or Indian…maybe a mix between the two. He had black hair and eyes, and a solid, muscular frame. The boy was wearing slightly ripped jeans and a solid black Eminem t-shirt. Overall, I thought he was kinda cute. The boy looked over at me.

"Am I right?" he asked, grinning. Wow…a smile really changes a person's appearance. Now he's really cute, not just kinda.

"Definitely," I replied, and I couldn't help but smile back. "But my name is Daphnê, not Dorothy!" I added, turning toward Mr. D.

"Don't bother," Dad said, rolling his eyes. "I can't tell you the number of times he's called me Peter Johnson." Okay…

"As if I haven't heard any of that before," Mr. D said, sniffing. Okay, it's official. I do not like Dionysus.

"And bought new, tighter clothes each time," Chiron muttered. Okay, I know that I wasn't supposed to hear that. Well, it's too late now. Unless someone's invented a memory-erase machine or something like that…which would be so cool!

Everyone simultaneously started walking over to a big, blue, house, leaving me and the boy alone.

"So…your name is Daphnê?" he asked

"Yep. And you are…" I replied.

"Joshua, son of Nyx," he said, and I realized that he wanted me to tell him my godly parent.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you who my parent is. She won't let me tell anyone, not even my family," I said. Joshua nodded in understanding. "Maybe I can show you all the cabins, and you'll be able to identify your mom's," he said. Why do I get the feeling that we're both looking for an excuse to spend time with each other? Well, no complaints there.

"Yeah, that sounds like fun," I said. Joshua smiled that adorable smile again. "C'mon, the cabins are this way," he said, pointing in the direction that everyone else had gone. Joshua gave me a fake bow and offered me his arm. "Shall we?" he asked, smiling goofily.

"We shall," I said, giggling. There were a lot of cabins—like, one for every god. Some of them were really fun (read: Apollo and Hermes need new hobbies). There were weird noises coming from some of the cabins—low chanting from Hekate, snores from Morpheus and Hypnos, giggles from Aphrodite, moans and other interesting noises from Eros (insert puke here), clanking from Hephaestus, and screams from Phobos and Thanatos. Out of all the cabins, there wasn't a single one for Hestia. There was a cabin for Pan, who died when Dad was fourteen, but not for my mother.

"Did you see a cabin for your mom?" Joshua asked. I, for some reason that is currently unknown to mankind, burst into tears.

"There isn't one," I told him. "There is no cabin for my mother."

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**Oh, If you review this time...I'll advertise one of ur stories in & i might be able to send u a sneak peek but my computer access will probably be limited to my iTouch.**

**Bibi!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Argh, this is soooo late…I is mad myself. First I procrastinated typing it up over the weekend, & then I was banned from using the computer (Thanks Mom!) So you can't hate me anymore than I hate myself right now. But at least it's a long chapter…over 14 pgs, in 12-pt. font on word.**

**Special thanks to OMG It's Rice (how did you come up with that anyways?), my anonymous reviewer (leah this time, but I'm pretty sure it's the same person), Dessers, Order of Dawn, Barbiegirl 22, Annabeth Whitlock Hale, & AHuman Robot for reviewing, & especially to Ahuman Robot, OMG It's Rice, & Dessers for their constructive criticism. Oh, and Annabeth pointed out a BEEEG typo…thank you soooooooooooooooooooooooooo much! Barbiegirl also pointed out a mistake I had made about time zones in the sneak preview, which you should've gotten if you reviewed…my apologies if you didn't, it was not intentional. Kudos to Nick V and Fallon Fallout for favoriting this story. I'll do everything else at the bottom. **

**leah had a question about the pairings, so I'll just reveal them early…It's Apollo/Theo, Luke/Kiki, & Joshua/Daphn****ê**.

**Kay, I'll shut up and let you read now…**

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In Chapter Two…

_"There isn't one," I said. "There is no cabin for my mother."_

Joshua stared at me in shock. "Are you sure? Your mom, Annabeth, designed the cabins, you know. She wouldn't have left anyone out or something like that." Huh. Mom designed the cabins. Who knew?

"I'm sure. She's the only one without a cabin—excluding the titans, of course," I said. My tears were drying a bit—not much, though.

Joshua frowned. "Then you'll just have to stay in the Big House, I suppose." I'm just going to assume that the 'Big House' is the blue four-story thing that everyone else went to.

Suddenly, a loud bell rang out.

"That's the dinner bell," Joshua explained. "Normally, campers sit at a specific table with their cabin mates, but your situation, is, um, unique, so you could probably sit at the head table or with one of your siblings-"

"Actually, can I sit with you?" I asked, blushing slightly. "Both Luke and Theo make friends easily, and I'd just feel out of place with them."

Joshua smiled the biggest, most adorable smile. It made my heart melt and my insides go all mushy…WTF was THAT? Crap, I think that I'm PMS-ing…just what I need. Damn it.

"That sounds fine. But I don't have any siblings, so it'll just be the two of us," Joshua warned. Whatever. Just us sounds more fun than being with a group of people anyways. I said as much aloud.

"That's good. C'mon, I'll show you where the dining pavilion is," he said. As the two of us walked to the dining hall, we passed a fire pit where a little girl was standing. She waved at me, and I recognized her as Hestia. I waved back.

Joshua noticed that, and asked, "Why'd you wave at Hestia?"

"Just felt like it, I guess," I replied. Technically, that was a half-truth, not a lie. I don't believe in lying anyways. There's no point in it.

"Mmm. Look, here's the dining pavilion," Joshua said. The dining pavilion was basically a lot of tables in one central area. I decided to assume that the head table was the one at the raised platform at the front. Joshua led me to a table in the middle. There were place settings at it, but no food other than the trays that nymphs were bringing around. I selected some chicken nuggets (with ketchup, of course), and Joshua selected a burger and fries.

"This is probably going to make me sound like an idiot, but where's the drinks?" I asked. I felt like this was something I should know already, not something that I needed to ask a boy I met less than an hour ago about.

"Oh, you just tell the cup what you want to have and it'll magically appear there," Joshua said. Ummm…that's not weird at all!

"Okay…" I said. Joshua started laughing. "I thought it was weird at first, too," Just look at your plate and say what you want to eat. It's really cool, actually."

I looked at my plate, and, feeling slightly stupid, said, "Caffeine-free cream soda, please." Cream soda appeared on in my cup. Well, what do you know? It actually worked! Joshua got a diet Coke. I don't belive in drinking caffeine at night after what happened to Luke-don't ask. Just don't.

I was about to start eating when I noticed that Joshua had picked up his plate and was standing up.

"We've got to burn part of our food as an offering to the gods," he explained.

"I knew that!" I said, jumping up and grabbing my plate. Why, oh why, do I always embarrass myself in front of cute boys? Do me a favor and don't answer that.

"Sure ya did," Joshua said with sarcasm in his voice. "Come on, the brazier is this way." He led me to what looked like one of those grill-type thingamabobbers that you see in public parks, except it was lit. Joshua stepped up to it, murmured, "Mother Nyx," scraped some food into it, and walked back to where I was standing.

"All you have to do is say or think the name of who you want the sacrifice to go to, and then scrape a bit of your food into the flames," he told me. I nodded and walked up to the brazier. _For milady,_ I thought, and pushed about a fourth of the pizza into the coals. Instantly, a plume of smoke rose up. It smelled like fresh-baked bread, cinnamon, cedar smoke (there are a lot of wildfires in California), and tons of other things that I couldn't identify. That's not weird at all!

The two of us walked back to our seats in silence. When we sat down, Joshua asked me, "So…what do you think of camp so far?"

"It's great," I said, smiling. "But the whole Greek gods are real thing's a bit overwhelming."

"Yeah, I could tell. You were definitely expecting to meet Dionysus earlier today," Joshua said. Was he _teasing_ me?

"Yep, I meet Greek gods on a daily basis," I said sarcastically. Joshua laughed. "Yeah, I can tell. But anyways, you're taking the whole thing really well. Most people—me included—flip out, go into denial for a few days, and then accept that one of their parents is a god."

"Most people didn't grow up learning myths and hearing their parents say things like, 'That is so not true! Theseus and Ariadne did not live happily ever after; he abandoned her on a random island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea,' and 'Persephone ate six pomegranate seeds, not eight!" I said, blushing slightly at the compliment.

"Touché," Joshua said, pointing his fork at me. Wait a minute…fork?  
"You're eating a burger with a fork?" I asked in disbelief.

"Not the burger! That would be weird," Joshua protested. "I'm eating the fries with a fork." Then we realized what he'd said and we both cracked up. It was sort of funny, really. I'd known Joshua for less than an hour, and already we were acting like we'd been friends for years. I hadn't had any close friends before—except for Theo and Luke, of course, but they don't count. They're family.

At one point during dinner, Mom stopped by our table.

"Daphnê, how are you?" she asked. I rolled my eyes. Moms can be so overprotective, sometimes.

"I'm fine. But Joshua showed me all the cabins, and there isn't one for my birth mom," I said. Mom looked confused for a minute, but then her expression. "Oh! Okay then," she said. I think she knows who milady is…

"I'll just bring your stuff into one of the Big House's spare rooms," Mom continued.

"Don't unpack anything," I warned. No, I'm not a drug smuggler. I just don't want anyone going through my stuff.

"I won't. I'm gonna go check on your crazy siblings; see you later," Mom said, kissing the top of my head. Joshua and I watched her walk away.

"Your mom's cool," he said. I shrugged. "I suppose. She's okay, but then again, I am the one who grew up with her." Joshua was looking at me with an odd look on his face—like how I had seen Mom and Dad look at each other.

"What's wrong?" I asked. Joshua shook his head, then said, "Wait, what?"

"You were looking at me oddly," I explained. "Was something wrong?" Joshua blushed slightly and said, "It was nothing. I'm fine." I _hmph_ed, but said nothing. The rest of the dinner passed in silence.

* * *

After dinner, everyone started heading towards the fire pit.

"Where's everyone going?" I asked.

"There's a campfire after dinner every night, unless it's a Saturday," Joshua told me. "I personally hate them—why ruin a perfectly good night with songs and a campfire?" I shrugged and said, "As long as there's a campfire going, I'll be there." Singing I don't care for much (I was never that good anyways), but a campfire…now that sounds like fun.

"Sometimes the flames go up to twenty feet high," Joshua said. Okay, that is seriously cool. I was about to reply when Theo ran up to me.

"Apollo's making me sing a duet with him at the campfire—Don't Stop Believin', Glee version," she said, gasping for breath. "Wish me luck!" Then the girl ran off again.

"Luck!" I called after her. Joshua was staring in the direction that Theo had gone.

"Was that your sister?"

"Yep."

"And she's singing a duet with Apollo." There was a note of disbelief in Joshua's voice. He better not be one of those cute-but-dumb guys, because that would seriously suck.

"Yes. And I'm going to answer what I'm assuming your next question is. Theo sang with a local children's choir. She would've been kicked out by now, except she was the best singer they had." If you want to know why Theo was almost kicked out, well, let's just say that my parents spent more money on property damage fees than they did on taxes a few times.

"This is going to be interesting," Joshua said. Now, where did that idea come from?

"Gee, I wonder why," I said sarcastically. That startled a laugh out of Joshua. He had a nice laugh; full throated but not deep, and his eyes sparkled when he did so. I'm really falling for him, aren't I? I mean, I'm describing his LAUGH, for the gods' sake. Crap.

"You're weird," Joshua told me. Awww…how nice!

"What was your first clue?" I retorted sassily. A slow smile flickered over Joshua's mouth and he rolled his eyes. "Come, on, let's go find seats."

"Race you?" I pleaded.

"Fine. Last one to the campfire has to sing a Justin Beiber song in front of everyone!" Joshua sprinted away. Oh, he is so on!

* * *

I reached the campfire a split second before Joshua did. He took one look at my triumphant face and instantly looked dejected.

"I'll let you off easy this time," I said, looking up at Joshua. He brightened noticeably. "Seriously? That's really nice of you. Thanks Daphnê!"

"But," I continued, "You will have to owe me a favor." And, we're back to looking dejected.

"What kind of favor?"

"I don't know, I haven't decided yet!" I said. "Oooohhhh, I see my brother. C'mon, let's go sit next to him!" The two of us walked over and sat down next to Luke. He looked pissed.

"Luke, this is Joshua. Joshua, this is my brother Luke," I said.

"Yeah, I know who Joshua is," Luke said.

"Whoa, what got up your ass?" I asked, surprised. Luke usually isn't that grumpy. Nor do I use terminology like that regularly.

Luke sighed. "I was talking with Kiki when this bastard from the Eros cabin walked up and started flirting with her. And seeing as Eros is the god of sex, that didn't end well for me." Anyone want to bet on whether or not Kiki's gonna be raped tonight?

I would've made a rude comment, but Apollo and Theo came into view in front of the campfire. Apollo started doing the whole pre-concert pep talk thing when some kid in the audience yelled out, "Yo **(Microsoft word spell check says that yo is not a real word…just fyi)** Dad! Shaddup and stop embarrassing us!" LOL. But anyways, the two of them moved to opposite sides of the campfire. Someone hit play on a CD player, and the intro for Don't Stop Believin' came on.

"Just a small town girl, livin' in a lonely world. She took the midnight train goin' anywhere," Apollo sang. He sounded pretty good—as was fitting for the god of music.

Theo looked up, than back down at her feet. "Just a city boy, born and raised in south Detroit. He took the midnight train goin' anywhere." She sounded amazing, as usual, even though she was still staring at her feet.

"A singer in a smoky room." I really don't get why Mom and Dad complain about Apollo's singing skills all the time. No, wait that was his poetry skills. My bad.

"A smell of wine and cheap perfume." Theo's voice was growing louder and clearer, and she was looking up at the audience now.

"For a smile they can share the night. It goes on and on and on and on." The two of them were singing together now. Theo was beginning to smile, and Apollo was looking across the campfire at her.

"Strangers waiting up and down the boulevard, their shadows searching in the night. Streetlight people, livin' just to find emotion, hiding somewhere in the night!" Theo was looking back at Apollo now. The two of them were staring into each other's eyes. Awww…how cute!

"Workin' hard to get my fill," Theo sang. "Everybody wants a thrill."

"Givin' anything to roll the dice just one more time." A duet again…

"Some will win, some will lose. Some were born to sing the blues. Now the movie never ends, it goes on and on and on and on.

"Strangers waiting up and down the boulevard, their shadows searching in the night. Streetlight people, livin' just to find emotion, hiding somewhere in the night!" Another duet, though Theo was distinctly louder. Now it's time for the guitar solo…

The two of them walked to the front of the campfire and joined hands. "Don't stop believin, hold on to that feelin'. Streetlight people!"

'Don't stop!" Apollo looked pleased with himself. Theo's face was slightly flushed, and she looked proud of herself. Everyone started applauding, and a chant for an encore was started. I did a double take and looked at the campfire behind them. It was, like, what ten, fifteen feet tall?

"Maybe tomorrow night," Apollo called. "Now let's get this campfire started!" A huge cheer went up and the fire grew another ten feet. Most of the songs were pretty cheesy, like I Am My Own Great-Great-Great-Great **(I hope I got all the Great's…I don't have my copy of whatever book that's in on me right now.) **Grandpa. Yes, that's the songs actual name. Everyone joined in anyways, no matter how weird the song was. Nothing seems stupid or immature at night when you have a campfire going.

At one point, I started falling asleep. It was late, I had woken up early to go on an airplane, and I was exhausted. But there I was, falling asleep, with Luke on my left and Joshua on my right. Guess which side I leaned towards? The side that my brother wasn't on.

Joshua didn't react weirdly or anything though. Instead, he wrapped an arm around me and pulled my body closer to his. I instinctively snuggled up against him so that my face was in his chest. For someone who was a son of Nyx, he was surprisingly warm. I heard Luke mutter something and Joshua replied, "Don't worry. I would never do something like that." Everything after that is blank.

* * *

The next thing I remember is hearing someone call my name.

"Daphnê…Daphnê, it's time to wake up." I opened my eyes and saw Mom standing over me.

"What time's it?" I asked groggily.

"Almost lunchtime. You've already slept through canoeing, archery, rock climbing, and half of ancient Greek," Mom told me. "I've left some clothes out for you. When you're done changing, go to the dining pavilion and eat lunch." Mom got up and left the room. I rolled out of bed, still in the clothes I was wearing yesterday. Ew. Mom had set out a pair of jeans and an orange t-shirt that I had never seen before. I got dressed, pulled my unruly, not brushed hair back into an untidy ponytail, and left the Big House.

* * *

The dining pavilion was practically empty, so I had the place to myself.

"Daphnê, please come over here," Chiron said. I walked over to him. "What's up?"

"You know who your godly parent is and there is no cabin for her here, correct?" he asked. I nodded.

"Then we should remedy that by having one built," the centaur stated. Crap. Milady is not going to like getting a cabin. Best to steer him off the topic while I can.

"Chiron, I'm pretty sure that milady would prefer to remain anonymous," I said quickly. Yep, milady would be absolutely _thrilled_ to have her identity known by everyone.

Chiron frowned. "Then you'll just have to continue staying in the Big House, I suppose. Normally unclaimed campers stay in the Hermes cabin, but you're not exactly unclaimed." Ummm…okay…what does unclaimed mean anyways?

I think I said that aloud. Whoops.

"Being unclaimed means that you don't know who your godly parent is," Chiron explained. "Since you do know who yours is, that makes you unofficially claimed."

"Unofficially?"  
"No one knows who your parent is except you and your parent." I knew that. Actually, I didn't. But whatever.

A big bell rang out suddenly, causing me to jump.

"Lunch's over. Annabeth will be teaching you ancient Greek you can find her at the fire pit." Well, so much for eating lunch—or breakfast, in my case. I thanked Chiron and exited the dining pavilion.

Finding Mom was easy. She was sitting on a log near the fire pit with a big group of kids who were talking among themselves. Mom stood up. "Everyone, please settle down. Class is about to resume. Now, who wants to list the Greek alphabet for Daphnê over here?" Several kids' arms shot into the air. This is going to be interesting…

A few hours later I was outside the combat arena, looking for the Pegasus stables. I had felt like an idiot in ancient Greek, gotten beat up in by a couple of Ares seven-letter words, and I wanted to get through freaking Pegasus riding, which I'll probably suck at anyways, freaking done and over with. Translation: Camp has me pissed.

"Daphnê!" A voice called my name. I turned, looking for the source of the noise. Joshua was jogging towards me. There were scorch marks on his t-shirt.

"I just came from rock climbing," he said, breathing hard. "You?"

"Combat training," I said, shuddering. "If you came from rock climbing, what are the scorch marks from?"

"The lava that was pouring down the rock wall," Joshua said nonchalantly. WTF?  
He cracked up. "I love seeing newbie's' faces when you tell them that." Then he added, "Not that you're a newbie—well, you are, but that's not what I meant—"

I looked up at Joshua. "It's okay. I know what you meant." For some reason, I noticed Joshua's face. I mean, I had seen his face before, but I hadn't actually _looked_ at it. His eyes were slightly wider set than most people's, looking at me from under straight brows. He had high cheekbones, a strong jaw, and his nose looked like it may have been broken a few times. His mouth looked…entirely too kissable.

That's when I noticed that our faces were less than six inches apart—way to close for comfort. I blushed and looked away, and then took a quick step back.

"What do you have next?" I asked quickly. I mostly said anything to keep an awkward silence from developing.

"Pegasus riding. You?" Joshua said tersely.

"Same." My response was just as brief. There wasn't any conversation between us until we reached the stables.

* * *

Okay, pegasus riding was EPIC. I actually was quite good at it! And what's even better is that Joshua can't stay on a pegasus to save his life, so I teased him about it for the rest of the day! Cuz I'm just awesome like that. So yeah, after pegasus riding, I had free time, in which I showered off and hung out with Joshua, Luke, Kiki, and Theo. Then it was time for dinner, and then the campfire (I stayed awake for the whole thing this time), and then I went to sleep. Maybe I can get a good night's sleep tonight…that would be almost as epic as pegasus riding.

* * *

Hestia was waiting for me in my dreams again.

"Hello milady. How are you?" I asked.

Hestia smiled. "I'm fine. How's camp?"

I decided to answer truthfully. "It's…unexpected, to say the least."  
Milady laughed. "You'll get used to it eventually." Growing more serious, she added, "I need to talk to you about something. You will be leaving camp soon—on a quest." Just then, lightning flashed and thunder boomed.

"Which my dear brother does not want me to tell you about," Hestia said. "Just keep hanging around Joshua—he is the Son of Night, after all." WTF is _that_ supposed to mean?

"Oh, and keep an eye on your siblings, m'dear. They're much more important than you think," the goddess continued. And on that note, my dream ended. Well, that answered a lot of questions. resigned myself to a life of mystery.

**

* * *

**

Okay, here's everyones stories...if it's not PJO I put the fandom in parenthesis ()

**Order of Dawn: Destinies (HP/Twilight)**

**Dessers: Child of the Night Sky**

**OMG it's Rice: Muramasa Katana Sword (39 Clues)**

**Annabeth Whitlock Hale: Wolf Story (Twilight)**

**Barbiegirl 22: The KID in Me (Disney)**

**That's all...flamers, please stay anonyomous. I will offer a sneak preview of 4 if u review & if it is signed.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Before you virtually yell at me...I'm sorry for being lazy and not updating. A lot of my focus has been on a story that I want to get published as a book one day, so I've been thinking about that instead of this. Actually, I'm sorta having issues writing the story because it's not really mine...like, whenever I try to put myself into their world and brainstorm for the story, I can't. Maybe because it's Riordan's?... Sigh. Well, I'm trying. This isn't even a decent chapter ( I suck at attack scenes, let's put it that way). Not to mention the fact that I'm swamped what with girl scouts, academic decathlon, and school. I can think of approx. 10 things that I should be doing right now instead of this.**

**Okay, enough with the lame excuses. Special thanks to ****LiLi-GirlwithALOTofIdeas****, ****Annabeth Whitlock Hale****, ****Dessers****, and ****Barbiegirl 22**** for reviewing, especially to Des for her ConCrit. All four of them got the sneak preview b/c they reviewed (cough cough hint hint wink wink). Kudos to ****Seaweed Brain and Wise girl 31**** and ****Grand Immortal Blindmerman**** for favoriting me/this story.**

**BTW what do u guys think of me changing my pen name to EatrOfPi? Yes? No? Maybe? Tell me in a review! I kinda like EatrOfPi better, but that's just me.**

**Oh, towards the end of the chapter, I mentioned a few things involving horses and horseback riding...all of my information is correct, since I ride horses myself. So no yelling at me about incorrect info/terminology! Unless you've ridden in the Olympics or the Kentucky Derby or something...but I find that very unlikely.**

**I'll stop rambling now. Here's the chapter...**

* * *

The next two weeks went by fairly quickly, without any word from Hestia or her mysterious advice or the quest that was apparently coming up. I missed my first Capture-the-Flag game because I came down with the stomach flu on Wednesday...thank you, airport germs. The Apollo and Aesculapius campers would've healed me, but I was throwing up a lot, to say the least. And it's slightly difficult to eat ambrosia and nectar when you can't actually keep it down. I had stopped throwing up and was completely healed by that Saturday, but I decided to skip anyways. Pegasus flying continued to be the one thing I excelled at-I couldn't even step in a canoe without making it tip over, and I had a better chance of hitting the target in archery when I wasn't aiming at it. Though it was sorta funny in rock climbing when I was climbing up the wall and the lava couldn't hurt me. Actually, the heat coming off the lava couldn't hurt me. The actual molten rocks themselves could. All was fair in love and war. The Eros idiot had attempted to rape Kiki, but Luke had fixed that. The bastard was still in the hospital wing. Apollo was visiting camp every couple of days. He said it was to spend time with his kids-and he did visit them-but everyone knew it was to see Theo. How did everyone know? The two of them 'mysteriously vanished' for an hour or two each time Apollo visited. I really don't want to know what they've been up to. My only hope is that Theo is still a virgin. Wait, you want me to tell you about _my _love life? Ummm...Well, I've been hanging out with Joshua a lot. On Thursday, he told me about this really pretty clearing in the forest that he knew about and asked me if I wanted to meet him there for a picnic at noon on Saturday. I said yes.

* * *

So, 11:00 on Saturday morning found me wondering if this counted as a freaking date. If it did, then I was going on my first date with a guy that I had met a few weeks ago and was the son of one of oldest Greek entities there was. If not, then what the hell was this supposed to be? An outside-of-curriculum training camp? Half an hour later, I had showered, brushed and braided my hair, and put on a nice-ish pair of jeans and a t-shirt. I am _**NOT**_ going to put makeup on for a date in the woods, thank you very much. Joshua had told me that Aunt Juniper, of all people, (how did he meet her anyways?) knew where the clearing was, so she was going to meet me outside of the forest, near the lake. I ran out of the Big House and headed towards the lake. Here goes nothing...

* * *

I met Aunt Juniper at the edge of the forest at 11:45. She was wearing a floor-length dress that was a tad baggy. Her hands were on her slightly rounded stomach.

"Hey Aunt Juniper," I called out. She waved at me. "Morning, Daphnê. How are you today?"  
"I'm fine, thanks. You?"

"Tired, and I need some ice cream for lunch," the dryad replied, laughing. "Chocolate chip cookie dough would be preferable. Come on, your boyfriend's waiting!"

I blushed bright red. "Joshua's not my boyfriend." _Yet_, I added mentally.

"Oh, if you say so," Aunt Juniper said. "Follow me, and do try not to get lost, will you?"

The dryad led me through the forest, taking a path that was so impossibly crazy that I knew that I wouldn't be able to find my way out even if my life depended on it. At one point, Aunt Juniper stopped walking, and I almost crashed into her.

"Joshua's only a few yards ahead. You can walk the rest of the way by yourself," she told me, gesturing to the dense forest. I thanked her and walked forward.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" I pushed past the final tree branches and entered a clearing. Eight old, majestic oaks defined the border. Sunlight filtered down through the treetops, giving everything a golden glow. It was amazing.

Joshua was sitting in the center with a picnic blanket and a wicker basket. I have to admit, my heart started racing when I saw him. Damn. He waved me over, so I plopped myself down next to him.

"Why, Joshua," I teased, " I never thought that you were the housewife type." Joshua stuck his tongue out at me, and I giggled at the absurdity of it all.

"I'm not. The food is from the dining pavilion, and I borrowed the basket and blanket from the Big House," he told me.

"Stole is more like it," an unfamiliar, oldish-sounding voice called out. (How does one sound oldish? I have no idea.) A wrinkled face appeared in one of the oaks, and I nearly screamed.

"Dryads, remember?" Joshua whispered. I nodded, allowing the breath that I had been holding in to whoosh out of my lungs. "Thanks."

"You be careful with that one, dearie," the old dryad cackled. "He's got more than a few tricks up his sleeve!" What the hell did she mean by that?

"Old one, you shouldn't be filling Daphnê's head with lies," Joshua said. He spoke softly but firmly.

"Bah! Demigods today," the dryad grumbled. "They ain't got no respect for their elders." With that, she melted back into her tree. I stared in astonishment and Joshua rolled his eyes.

"Honestly, that dryad's been driving me crazy ever since I came to camp," he complained. "Do you want some food? I brought ham and cheese sandwiches, soda, grapes, and two slices of chocolate cake."

Even though the ADHD part of my brain said otherwise, (CAKE!) I started with a sandwich and a six-ounce can of Coke. (The no-caffeine rule only applies after five in the afternoon.) The two of us sat and ate in silence. Not an awkward, what-do-I-say-now silence, but a companionable (Whee! Big words are FUN) one, like words weren't necessary or something weird and deep like that. It was nice.

I was licking the last bits of chocolate frosting of my fingertips when Joshua spoke.

"You're wondering about why I asked to meet you here, aren't you?" he asked.

I stopped licking my fingers. "Maybe."

"Well," he continued. "I've heard that you've had a bit of trouble with the sword fighting portion of combat training."

"Oh crap." It was true; I could kinda hold my own in hand to hand combat because I was so much smaller and thus faster than everyone else. Sad to say, sword fighting was a different matter altogether. As in, I was having trouble lifting up the sword because it weighed half the amount I did.

"So, since I can actually hold a sword-" See what I mean? "-I was thinking that I could maybe help you out a little," he said.

"Okay..."

Joshua grinned, a feral baring of his teeth. "Excellent. We'll start now."

* * *

The two of us must've trained for _hours_. I was able to pick up the sword and (kind of) wield it after about half an hour, so we started sparring. My concentration and my grip (on the sword and reality, ha-ha) kept slipping, and it didn't help that the dryads continually made comments and picked sides.

"Okay, last time," Joshua gasped. Sweat was beading on his brow. "I'm just too tired to continue." That's funny. I kinda felt like I was just getting started.

Without waiting for a signal of any kind, I lunged at Joshua with the sword in both of my hands. He blocked my strike easily, and I leaped to the side instead of letting the sword be knocked out of my hands. I swung at his side, and he blocked that too. I slipped under his sword (being short has its advantages) and placed the tip of my sword on Joshua's neck. There was only enough space for the sword between our two bodies.

"You...you beat me," Joshua said slowly. His sword fell out his hand and clattered to the ground.

I lowered my sword, then set it down. "Well, it was bound to happen at one point or another," I pointed out. "You can't win everything, you know."

Instead of responding, Joshua took my face in his hands and kissed me. He tasted like chocolate cake. I _think_ I kissed him back-I'm still not sure.

About five seconds into the kiss, I tore myself out of Joshua's grip.

"I-I need to go," I said. Without waiting for a response, I ran out of the clearing.

"You really need to wait longer before you kiss someone, Joshua," I heard a dryad say. _Or at least give a girl some warning first_, I thought.

* * *

Turns out that running straight through a forest (avoiding trees included, of course) is a pretty good way to leave/escape from aforementioned forest. Until you crash into your older brother's girlfriend, that is.

"Whoa, slow down, Daphnê!" Kiki said, helping me up. "What's wrong?"

"Boy trouble," I gasped, breathing hard. "Can we go somewhere to talk where the rest of your cabin won't be eavesdropping?" Kiki turned around. "Well, you heard her! Shoo! Stacy, can you get Theo for me?" The teen I assumed was Stacy nodded and headed towards the Poseidon cabin, away from her siblings.

"Tell me everything," Kiki commanded.

"Joshua kissed me."

"And you responded by..."

"Running away for no good reason."

Kiki rolled her eyes. "He wasn't touching you or anything, was he? Cuz that counts as a good reason, you know."

"No, that's not it at all, you perv! I was scared because it was my first kiss, nervous because it was my first kiss, freaking out because it was my first kiss, and practically high because it was my first kiss and Joshua's a pretty good kisser," I answered.

"Yeah, you're right. Those aren't very good reasons," she decided. "If you haven't figured it out yet, you're not supposed to run away when you're kissed."

I raised an eyebrow at her. That comment is not worth a proper response.

Kiki sighed in exasperation. "Did you kiss him back, at least?"

"I _think_ so, but I'm not sure," I said. Kiki face-palmed. "Well, let's hope you did, because I'm pretty sure that Joshua will be able to figure out that it was you, not him, if you kissed him back."

Just then, Theo arrived.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Joshua kissed Daphnê, Daphnê ran away," Kiki explained.

Theo shrugged. "At least she didn't punch him."

The two of us stared at her. "Please tell me that you didn't punch Apollo when he kissed you," I asked.

Theo grinned evilly."Sorry, but I can't do that. I only hit him because he tried to put his hand in my pants. Then we set up some rules, and now everything's okay."

"Well, it could be worse," Kiki said. "You could've made sure that Apollo couldn't make anymore demigods." Theo and I slapped her at the same time.

"I really don't get what Luke sees in you," Theo said. I snorted.

"Yeah, I've been worried about him, actually," Kiki said, a frown creasing her brow. "He's been acting really weird lately. Like, he's always distracted, and he's scarily good in combat training sometimes and only average in others. And he never seems to get bruised or anything, like he can't be hurt." Theo and I were saved from responding by the conch horn that signaled dinner at the mess hall.

"Daphnê, you're sitting with me for dinner," Theo ordered.

"Fine." No use telling Theo that I won't be able to get a word in edgewise. She'll just go all sappy and tell Mom and Dad, and everyone will be like, "Oh, Daphnê, why didn't you tell us you feel excluded?" No, definitely not.

* * *

Actually, dinner wasn't that bad. Theo introduced me to all of her cabinmates. The leader was a curvy Samoan girl named Elle. She told me that I was more than welcome to stay with the Poseidon cabin whenever I wanted, which I found very nice of her. There were too many jokes about fish (and human!) reproduction for my taste, though I did have fun.

When dinner was over, Chiron said, "The Capture-the-flag teams will be male gods versus female gods, with Athena and Zeus as the leaders. No intentional maiming-" a few kids snorted or laughed at this "-and I will be standing by as a medic."

"Which side is your godly parent on?" Elle asked.

"My mom's," I replied.

"Damn we'll be on opposite sides." Elle sounded dejected. She's way to nice to me, honestly.

Just then, Chiron trotted up to the table. "Daphnê, can you play on the male gods' team? The Eros boy that your bother, um, injured-" Theo choked down a laugh at this "-is still out of commission, so they're short a player."

"Yeah, I'd be happy to," I replied.

"Wait a minute," Elle said. "Not that I've got anything against Daphnê joining our side, but the Eros and Aphrodite cabins never play Capture-the-Flag." A few of her cabinmates nodded. "What are you up to, Chiron?"

He looked suspicious. (Actually, both Elle and Chiron did. But that's irrelevant.) "Nothing, nothing at all." He did the whole strolling away, casually whistling act.

"I've never been able to get anything out of that man-er, centaur," Elle muttered. She raised her voice and addressed the whole table. "Alright, everybody, Evanlyn is this way! Let's go!" She ran off towards what I assumed was the Zeus table. Man, that girl can move fast for someone of her size.

* * *

A slim, lithe girl with eyes like chunks of blue ice **(If you've read every book that Tamora Pierce has written, you'll know where I got this)** was standing on top of a table yelling at people.

"Hermes, Dionysus, half Apollo and half Ares defend the flag. Thanatos, Hades, Phobos, border patrol. Poseidon, you know what to do. The rest of Apollo and Asclepius, work as healers where needed. Hermes, Zeus, Morpheus, Eros, the rest of Ares, and everyone else, hang out wherever you're needed!"

Elle turned to face the cabin. "Well, you heard her! Head to the pegasus stables!" Looking at me, she asked, "Can you ride?"

"I should hope so, as it's the only thing that I'm close to being good at in camp," I replied.

"Good! Stay with me. You normally ride..." Elle said.

"Nessa. Why?"

Elle grinned evilly. "Oh, you'll find out. Let's MOVE IT!" My gods, that girl is like a slave driver or something.

Ten minutes later, I had tacked Nessa up and was standing at Zeus' Fist (called the Poop Pile by everyone else). Guess what the Poseidon cabin does during Capture-the-Flag games? They ride their pegasi above everyone else. Guess who's joining them today? Me. What in Hades' socks have I gotten myself into?

"Alright, let's talk strategy," Evelyn (the leader of the Zeus cabin) said. "Everyone needs to keep an eye out for Hecate campers-I don't trust them not to turn themselves into trees then stab us when we're not looking. Knock them unconscious whenever possible, since that's technically not maiming." There were few laughs at this. "Athena cabin's probably got some over complicated strategy-ignore them, and ruin their plans whenever possible. Poseidon, use a messenger system, and Elle, let Theo do the specifics since she's partially a daughter of Athena. Everyone know what they're doing?" We all nodded.

"Good. Let's go!" With that, the Poseidon cabin and I mounted our pegasi and leaped into the air.

"Daphnê, lead the chain," Theo ordered. "Elle, follow her, then Andrew, Lauren, Stephen, and Alex. I'll go last." Why me first? No time to worry about that now, though. Judging from the blue lights in the sky, I located the other team's flag and turned Nessa in that direction. I nudged her into a hand gallop, with the others following close behind. I made sure to stay out of arrow and spear range-I don't care if Chiron said no intentional maiming, getting knocked off a flying pegasus would be no fun. About a fourth of the blue lights were gone by the time we reached the other team's flag. I circled Nessa above the remaining lights until the rest had disappeared. When they had, I kicked Nessa into a full gallop, turned her into a steep dive, and positioned myself in the two-point position. I judged the timing carefully...Now! I leaned left and grabbed the flag, wheeled Nessa around and up, and passed the flag to Elle. She, in turn, passed it to Andrew, who passed it to Lauren, who gave it to Stephen, who handed it to Alex, who practically tossed it at Theo. Warning: Do NOT, under any circumstances, try this at home. Theo jumped off the pegasus and hit the ground running. Everyone else followed suit. One by one, Lauren, Elle, Andrew, Alex, and Stephen were hit on the head. It was just Theo and I left when Joshua and a beautiful Latina with cold, hard, silver eyes leaped out at us. Theo wrapped herself around the flag and tumbled under them. Huh. All those gymnastic lessons paid off, I suppose. I drew my knife and dove at Silver Eyes. She tried to stab me with her dagger, but I easily sidestepped her and drove my elbow into her stomach. She collapsed, gasping. Joshua bent to help his fallen comrade and Theo ran ahead, sprinting towards the creek. I followed her.

Theo swam across the creek and emerged victorious on the other side. The design on the flag changed to a silver and aqua trident, and the whole team converged upon her, screaming with happiness.

Chiron trotted into the clearing. "And Poseidon won..." he muttered, then looked up at everybody.

"I have grave news," he said. Everyone stopped celebrating and looked at him.

"A quest is in order: One of the god's items has been stolen," the centaur announced. Chaos erupted instantly.

**

* * *

**

Yeah, this is one of those cliched, overdone stolen item stories. Sorry to disappoint if anyone found this worth reading. If you can guess what the item is, you get cyber brownies! Hint: It's not one f the normal items. Oh...and please give me concrit or flame me (you don't even have to be anonymous...in fact, don't be!) or at least tell me about something that I did well or SOMETHING! I need motivation, not just 'great job, update soon's! Oh and sorry about any typos google docs doesn't work properly on the computer that I'm using.

**And on that note, ~Adios~**


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